Thanks Bob,
Oh the tales we do remember....
.Reminded me of my first car in the 60s....56 TR3
Bought it from a salvage yard. It was hit hard in the front end. Had
a hammer, pipe wrench, and vise grips for tools. Couldn't wait to get it
running. At the frst sound of the engine roar.. I tied the hood on and
took of for a cruise without the front shroud. The need for speed took
over. The thrill of accelerating through the gears was rudely
interrupted by the hood pealing up and smacking the windshield. I
watched it fly over my head and then in the rear view mirror saw it sail
over the car behind me. WHEW!! just doesn't tell it all. (So much for
the new hood hinges I had to drive 80 miles to get) .
Brakes... We didn't need brakes, the emergency brake worked fine. Yup
a wire wheel car. Finally got around to doing the brakes. Took everthing
off and put it in a pile. Put it back together and WOW!!! What a novel
option on the automobile..With brakes you can go faster... knowing you
can stop quicker. You also find out that if you don't get your wire
wheel adapters back on the correct side of the car, the wheels fall off
at speed.
Then there was the time the worm gear on the steering broke clean
off. After buzzing the local pool (showing off) at 80 mph (short run) I
made a couple of quick "S" manuvers through the paking lot and pulled
into the parking space smiling from ear to ear. As I grabbed the
steering wheel to get out of the TR3 and it promptly proceeded to
freewheel with no resistance. Towed it home with rope behind my buddies
Rambler running along side to kick the tires so it would track the tow
car......(Tail between legs)
The classic was when I came back from overseas to find the TR had
broadsided a mustang while I was gone. (EX Friend was taking care of it)
By this time I had evolved to a two TR kinda guy. So after a week or so
of trying to make one "best" car out of the lot I spent the night
R&Ring the bent steering gear . Again using the best of both ...the one
was a RHD The other was a LHD. As a young wipper snapper I never gave
thought to the fact the worm gears might reverse. Imagine the thrill of
pulling out of the garage after 6 months of no TR ... turning right and
going left???? It was great fun for a couple of days...
Thanks for the flash back
T.R.
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